Public outreach is more than just a job for me. It’s my worldview, a way of life. With nearly two decades of professional experience under my belt, I’m well-versed in all aspects of public outreach, strategic communication planning and community relations. As the daughter of public relations and journalism professionals, my training and education started at a young age. My earliest memories include family debates about how agencies and corporations handled crises, and how the media portrayed them. I was raised to think strategically about communication.
Ultimately, public outreach captured my focus because it gives meaning to the practice of public relations. I began my career as an account executive at a small public relations firm in Sacramento, where I worked on public awareness and education programs in the water resources and transportation industries. We achieved results, we made a positive impact, and I was hooked.
In 1995, I relocated with my husband to his home state of Alaska. There, I spent eight years as a public information specialist in the state’s second-largest K-12 public school system. I’m especially proud of my three successful school bond campaigns that resulted in 12 new facilities, to include six elementary schools, a middle school, a career and technical education high school, and a modern food services facility. Those results are measurable – in square footage!
Later, I served as the manager of government and corporate communications for one of the nation’s largest electric utility cooperatives. In that role, I was responsible for developing and managing a public outreach strategy to gain community support for the siting and construction of new energy generation facilities, to include a clean coal plant. The development of public-private partnerships and inter-utility collaboration were major areas of emphasis.
At the end of 2006, I returned to California to work on public outreach programs as the Client Services Manager for LucyCo Communications. In that role, I provided oversight to project managers and project assistants, while serving as principal on projects to develop and implement strategic communication plans for dozens of public sector clients. My areas of focus included flood management, transportation, water resources, and land use planning, among others.
In starting Kim Floyd Communications, I realized an opportunity to provide clients with the same high level of service at a fraction of the cost. It’s like working with a full-service agency, but without all the overhead. As a former public-sector employee, that’s a concept I can appreciate, and one I promise to deliver.
